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Monday, June 8th, 2015

Elizabeth came to a halt just after stepping outside. A huge number of kids were gathered near the hill between the blacktop and the soccer field, including a half-dozen teachers, and a few more faculty were escorting some of the older students back inside.

"What's going on?", she asked, walking over to a group of her classmates and tugging on Madelyn's sleeve.

"Huh? Oh, Hi Lizzy," the golden retriever replied, glancing down at the smaller stoat.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked again now that she had someone's attention.

"Alex got in a fight with some fifth graders or something," Danny said holding up his phone. "Kevin just sent me this video he took of it. He was recording the soccer match a few of his friends were playing when it happened."

"Oh no," the little stoat said, rushing to the border collie's side as he started playing the video. Just when things started to get ugly, she heard the sound of sirens coming from the front of the school.

"Where's Alex?", she asked frantically.

"Over there, behind the principle and the other teachers," Danny said, pointing up the hill.

Madelyn grabbed the stoat's arm, yanking her back. "Stop! They're not letting anyone near, Lizzy."

"Let go of me!" Elizabeth yelled, shaking her hand loose and taking off running, dodging Danny's outstretched arm and then through the various groups of cubs between her and the group of teachers. "Lexi?! LEXI!"

A moment later she came to an abrupt halt as Principle Sihásapa reached out and caught the girl around the chest with one huge hand. "Stop, Elizabeth."

"But, Lexi... Lexi's hurt," Elizabeth babbled, trying to squirm out of the bison's grasp. "Let go of me!"

"Yes, shi is, and we can't let anyone near hir right now. Including you. We're waiting for the doctors to get here," the female bison said, peering over the crowd of students around them, towards the school. "And it looks like they just arrived," she added, seeing a pair of paramedics come jogging through one of the doors, one of them pushing a wheeled stretcher.

=^.^=

Raenne sighed, setting down the Tom Clancy novel she was reading and pulling her phone out of her pocket. She didn't recognize the number, and was almost tempted to just ignore it... except that it was a local number. She swiped the slider to the right and held the phone up to the side of her head. "Raenne speaking."

"Mrs. Andreyev, this is Principal Sihásapa from Byrom Elementary. Your daughter has apparently been involved in another altercation. This one appears to have been substantially more serious, and she's currently en route to the Meridian Park Hospital Emergency Room," the principal said in a level tone. She might as well have been explaining the school's attendance policy for all the emotion in her voice.

By the time the bison had said "altercation", Raenne had already stood up and was on her way out the front door. By the time the bison had finished, she was in her car and pulling out of the driveway.

"I'm on my way to Meridian Park Hospital then. Can you explain what happened?", the tigress asked, activating the car's hands-free mode.

"I don't have the full story yet, but she was being kicked by three other students when another teacher and I interrupted them," the principal explained. "When I noticed that she was having trouble breathing and had blood on her mouth, I called for an ambulance."

"How bad was it, did you ask her?"

"Well, we did, but she didn't respond; she was alternating between coughing and gasping. One of the other teachers suspected a possible broken rib."

"That's what it sounds like, and if she was coughing up blood then she may have a punctured lung as well," Raenne said, going cold. She suddenly felt strangely disconnected and emotionless, almost as if she were a robot. "I suggest you get the full story then, so that you can explain to the police why three students were assaulting a girl with a broken leg."

The principal began to say something else, only to be cut off when Raenne hit the end call button on the steering wheel. She had all the facts that mattered. She hit the button on the steering wheel again. "Siri, call Tualatin Police Department."

=^.^=

Both David and Raenne sat next to each other, David holding his wife's hand as they sat in the hallway outside the operating room. So far Alex had been in surgery for something over half an hour, but it seemed like hours, if not days, to the two of them.

Given the way that Alex's ribs had broken, the doctor had suggested something called surgical rib fixation, using titanium plates that were screwed onto the two ribs that had been fractured. Unfortunately, because Alex was still growing they couldn't simply leave the plates in place, so they'd have to remove them after two months.

The collapsed lung was a trickier situation, but the doctor had said that there were multiple ways to treat the collapsed lung, depending on the severity of the wound. Raenne only hoped it wouldn't be something like what she'd seen in her time in the military: collapsed lungs could be fatal.

Suddenly the door to the operating room opened and a doctor in scrubs stepped out. Raenne was somewhat surprised to see an arabian oryx here in the states; they weren't that common to begin with. The doctor's horns were cut off about a foot above his head, and topped with ornate silver caps.

As he approached them, he stripped the latex gloves off his hands, revealing fingers tipped with black horn, almost like tiny hooves for each finger. "Mr. Andreyev," he said with a faint middle-eastern accent, holding one hand out. "I met your wife, but I haven't met you yet. I'm Doctor Tawfeek."

David nodded, standing up and shaking the doctor's hand. "Doctor."

"Your daughter is doing fine," the doctor said, smiling at the look of relief that went across both parent's faces. "Both ribs have been fixed in place, and we managed to plug the hole in hir lung. It was actually very small, and we were able to plug it without resorting to further surgery. We'll need to keep hir in the ICU on oxygen and under observation for at least twenty-four hours to make sure that there aren't any complications. Additionally, we'll have to put hir on antibiotics to ensure shi doesn't come down with pneumonia."

"Oh, thank god," David said. "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure," the oryx said, bowing slightly. "Now, if you don't mind, I've got to clean up and prep for my next operation."

=^.^=

An hour later, both Raenne and David were sitting in the ICU room that Alex had been transferred to after the anesthesiologist had deemed hir safe. Surprisingly, the medical equipment shi was hooked up to was remarkably quiet, except for the hiss of the oxygen mask. Raenne seemed to remember hospital rooms being much noisier, with lots of beeps.

Both of the tigers started when Raenne's phone went off. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket and answered the call, recognizing the number from earlier. "Raenne speaking."

"Hello Mrs. Andreyev. This is Principal Sihásapa from Byrom Elementary. The faculty here and the police investigator that you decided to involve in this have finished their initial investigations into what happened," the bison said, tapping her fingers on the desk. She tried not to let her annoyance creep into her voice. Having the police showing up at her school not once, but twice in the past week, both because of the Andreyev child was more than a little irritating.

"From what we're able to determine," the principal continued, "it would seem that your daughter was the instigator of this particular incident. I apologize for being the bearer of bad news, but district policy leaves me no choice in the matter. Your daughter has been given a three-day suspension for fighting, effective immediately."

"Suspension? You must be joking," Raenne asked incredulously, stepping outside of the ICU room so as not to disturb her daughter's rest.

"No, ma'am," the principal replied on the other end of the phone call. "None of the other children that were in the area saw the beginning of the altercation, and all three of the other students involved claim that Alex attacked Sara first, apparently because Sara's boyfriend had injured Elizabeth last week. All three of them were injured as well, apparently by Alex's crutches."

Raenne went silent a moment. Something about this whole thing didn't seem right. Alex had never been involved in fighting at school, and it was something she had stressed repeatedly that Alex was never to do. It was possible though, and she couldn't get Alex's side of the story until shi woke up from anesthesia.

"Well, I doubt that Alex will be out of the hospital before school ends. Shi's got two ribs fractured in multiple places and a punctured lung. Shi just got out surgery an hour ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mrs. Andreyev. Perhaps that will serve as a lesson not to attack other students, though."

Raenne's jaw tightened. "Is there anything else?"

"No, Mrs. Andreyev. I hope your daughter has a swift recovery," the principal said, hanging up after a few seconds. Then she leaned back in her chair, sighing. The amount of paperwork each of these police visits required was absolutely ridiculous.

=^.^=

Another hour or so later, both David and Raenne started once again. This time from the sound of music coming from Alexandrea's pants, lying on one of the empty chairs near the bed. After a second, David leaned over and started digging through the pockets until he'd found his daughter's phone. It was Lizzy, and judging by the time, she must have just gotten home from school.

Swiping the bar to the right, he held the phone up. "Hello?"

After a moment, Elizabeth spoke. "Umm... Mr. Andreyev?"

"Yes. What's up Lizzy?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know if Lexi was alright," Elizabeth asked. "Is shi?"

David took a deep breath. "Right now, yes. Shi got out of surgery a few hours ago, but shi still hasn't woken up. The doctor says that if there aren't any other complications, shi should be fine... but he wants to keep hir here in the hospital for a couple days."

"Hospital? Oh no...what did shi need surgery for?" the stoat asked, shocked and scared.

"Shi had multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung," David replied. "We still don't know what happened at school though; Alex wasn't able to speak much before surgery and shi hasn't woken up yet. Do you happen to know what happened? Were you there?"

Elizabeth was stunned, but did her best to answer anyway. "Yes... but I wasn't there. I was putting away my lunch in the classroom, but I saw the video on Danny's phone-"

"Wait," David interrupted. "The principal said there weren't any other kids who saw what happened, but you saw a video of it?"

"Yeah," the little stoat replied. "Danny, the border collie in our class, got the video from another kid named Kevin or something."

"So what actually happened?"

"Well, first it showed some kids playing soccer, then it showed Lexi walking up the hill and sitting on the ground, then there was more soccer stuff. Then it showed Lexi still sitting on the ground with three kids standing around hir." Elizabeth explained, trying to remember how everything happened. "shi stood up, then one of them took hir crutches started walking around... and then the deer guy pushed hir and a moment later they all started kicking hir. Then the teachers grabbed them."

"I see..." David said, looking across the ICU room at his wife, meeting her eyes. "Thank you for clearing that up Lizzy. You said Danny has the video, and he got it from Kevin?"

"Yes, Mr. Andreyev," Elizabeth said quietly.

"Thank you, Lizzy. That'll be a big help for us. I'll let Alex know that you called when shi wakes up."

"Okay. I hope shi gets well soon," Elizabeth said, hanging up after a few moments. Suddenly everything caught up with her, and the little stoat darted through the library and into Julia's office, bawling.

=^.^=

A soft rapping at the door to the ICU room got both David and Raenne's attention. They weren't expecting anyone, but it could easily have been one of the nurses on the ICU staff. Raenne stood up and opened the door, revealing a german shepherd in a police officer's uniform.

"Hello, I'm Officer Hoffman. Would you happen to be Mrs. Andreyev?" the canine asked.

"Yes, I am. Good to finally meet you in person," the tigress said, holding one paw out for a handshake.

"Likewise. Is it okay if I come in?" he asked.

"Certainly," Raenne said, stepping back into the room and sitting down.

The canine entered the room and closed the door behind him with a click, then pulled out his notepad. "Hmm... I see Alex still hasn't woken up yet. Did the doctor say how much longer shi would be under?"

Raenne checked her phone. "Well, shi did wake up earlier, but she wasn't very coherent. The doctor said shi'd probably be that way for some time."

"Hmm. That's too bad," he said, his mouth pursing slightly. "So, I finished interviewing the other three students involved in the altercation, then spent a bit of time interviewing some of the teachers and faculty as well. Unfortunately, there wasn't any security footage of the area where the incident took place, so I'm having to rely on witness testimony-"

"If I may interrupt," David said, "my daughter's friend called earlier, and she said that there was a video recording of the incident. Taken by another student."

"Really?", the officer said, his eyebrows going up. "A video recording would definitely be helpful in figuring out what happened. Do you happen to know where I could get a copy of it?"

"Elizabeth said that one of the students in our daughter's class, a border collie named Danny, showed it to her on his phone. Apparently he received it from another cub named Kevin," David explained.

The officer quickly scribbled in his notepad. "Elizabeth...Danny...Kevin...Got it. Elizabeth is your daughter's friend? The one who saw the video?"

David nodded.

"Good. Did she tell you what had happened?"

David nodded again, then quickly relayed what Elizabeth had told him of what she'd seen in the video.

When the officer had finished scribbling down the story, he looked back up at the parents. "Well, thank you. I'm going to make a few calls and see if I can't track down a copy of that video. Would you two please give me a call when your daughter starts coming around? I'll need to interview Alex as well before I hand my findings over to the district attorney's office."

=^.^=

Charlotte was the last person to sit down at the dinner table; the Stouffers were already sitting, and Terrence was in the process of folding his napkin over his lap. The other three were having potatoes and green beans with roast beef, but Charlotte had decided on fixing herself a french onion soup; she didn't particularly feel ready to start chewing anything yet.

"So, how was school, Elizabeth?", Terrence asked, looking over at his daughter. "It's your last week, before summer vacation."

"Not so good. Alex got beaten up by some big kids, and had to go to the hospital," the little stoat said sadly, staring down at her plate. She didn't particularly feel like eating right now.

"What?" he asked, glancing over at his wife Julia. She hung her head, shaking it slowly. "What happened? Who would beat up a kid who's already got a broken leg?"

"Bullies, that's who," the little stoat said angrily. "I wasn't there though, I just saw a video one of the other kids took of it."

"So is Alex alright?", Charlotte asked, interrupting.

"She has a few broken ribs and a collapsed lung, from what I understand," Julia said when Elizabeth didn't answer.

"Shit," Terrence muttered under his breath. "And Alex and you were bullied last week too. I'd have thought the teachers would have taken care of this already," he said, glowering. After a second he stood up.

"Terry? Where are you going?" Julia asked, concerned.

"To make a few calls," he said, walking out of the dining room. "I'll be back in a bit. Feel free to finish dinner without me."

Terrence made his way to the library, where it was nice and quiet, then sat down and pulled out his phone, quickly pulling up the Andreyev's phone numbers and calling David's. He didn't feel as comfortable talking with Raenne, not since this whole debacle started a few weeks ago.

"David?", he asked when the call finally connected.

"Yes. Terrence?", the tiger asked, still sitting in the ICU where his daughter was dozing. At least Alex had woken up a few times now, though shi was hardly coherent.

"Yes. I heard your daughter was attacked, had to go to the hospital. Is that right?" Terrence asked, verifying the facts before he got to the real reason he was calling.

"Yeah," David said quietly. "We're still at the hospital right now. Apparently three other kids approached hir. One of them pushed hir and then they began kicking hir until the teachers got there. At least, that's what your daughter told us. The school seems to think that Alex attacked the other three with hir crutches first though. In any case, Alex wound up with three fractures on two ribs and a punctured, collapsed lung. We only got out of surgery a few hours ago. They put some metal plates on hir ribs to stabilize them, and fixed the collapsed lung as well," the white tiger explained, taking a quick breath before continuing.

"They also had to remove the cast on hir leg and replace it, though it doesn't look like the kids managed to re-break hir leg from what the doctors can tell. They want to keep hir here in the ICU for observation for the next day or so. Daily x-rays and electrocardiograms. They may need an ultrasound too, but I didn't want them shaving Alex's chest unless they have to."

"Shit... A punctured, collapsed lung?" Terrence asked. "Your daughter's going to be months recovering from that."

"No," David said, shaking his head. "At least, we hope not. They've got some kind of gel they can apply to the lung itself that seals small punctures, and they removed the air in the lining of hir chest cavity during the operation and reinflated the lung itself. How, exactly, I don't know. I didn't ask. But unless there are any complications, like pneumonia, shi should be fine."

"Wow. Medical technology's come a long, long way since I was a kid," Terrence said. "Anyway, it's good to hear that it's not as serious as it could be. And I do have a question for you..."

"Yes?", David asked, hesitating slightly.

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but I actually have some ongoing litigation with the Tigard-Tualatin School District regarding their policies on protecting students that have had issues in the past, and their policies handling student violence. Charlotte, for example, had repeatedly complained to her teachers and faculty that Diego was harassing her, and they did nothing. In the end he knocked her out cold and shattered most of her muzzle. Lost her two upper bicuspids. Then they suspended the student who stopped Diego from kicking her in the chest when she was unconscious. Hikari, his name is. One of your wife's karate students."

"I'd heard that Charlotte was injured... but... wow. What's this got to do with me though?", David asked, trying to figure out how Charlotte's incident related to him.

"Well, both Alex and Elizabeth were attacked last week. This is yet another example of the school taking no action to protect students who are vulnerable or have had previously been bullied, harassed, or attacked. I just wanted to know if you and your family would be interested in joining the ongoing litigation against the tigard-tualatin school district. If it's successful, not only could the school district be forced to amend their policies to protect vulnerable students, but there could be financial compensation as well. You probably want those bullies or the school district to pay for Alex's medical bills, right?"

When Terrence reached the point where he was explaining that it was just another example of inaction, David felt his temperature start to rise. He hadn't thought of the fact that his daughter was vulnerable, but when it was pointed out, it was blatantly obvious that the school should have done_something_to protect hir. Shi was one of the gender minorities, had previously been attacked,_and_had a broken leg. _Someone_should have been keeping watch over hir at the very least. He didn't even realize he was grinding his teeth until his wife peered over at him, wondering what was going on.

"Yes, you're right," the white tiger said. "If the school district's policies don't require such protecting vulnerable students, they should. If they do, the people who weren't carrying those policies out should be held responsible."

"That's exactly my opinion as well," Terrence said with a grim smile. "I'm going to get in touch with the law firm handling the case and let them know. You should be receiving a call from them sometime tomorrow."

"I'll be looking forward to it," David said. "Thank you."

"My pleasure. I hope that your daughter recovers quickly, and without any complications. Goodnight, David."

"Goodnight, Terrence."

=^.^=

Officer Hoffman rapped on the solid red-painted door to the Miller residence. He hoped he wasn't interrupting dinner for them. A few moments later a middle-aged border collie wearing a pair of jeans and a white sleeveless tee opened the door.

"Yes, officer?" the collie asked, suspiciously, eyeing the german shepherd in the police uniform.

"Good evening. I'm Officer Hoffman with the Tualatin Police Department. Are you Mr. Miller?", the officer asked.

"Yes, I am. Can I help you?"

"Well, if your son Daniel happens to be home, I'd like to ask him a few questions about something that happened at school today. Shouldn't take but a minute."

The collie didn't answer, instead turning around and yelling into the house. "Danny? There's a police officer here who wants to talk to you."

A muffled response came from within, and the older collie turned back around. "He'll be down in a second," he said, then turned around and walked back into the living room, flopping down on a worn couch in front of a dated television set.

Officer Hoffman stood at the doorway, waiting as the door slowly closed, obscuring his view of the inside of the house. About ten seconds later, several loud thumps came from a stairwell out of view and a little later a border collie pup appeared in the doorway, pulling the door back open.

"Yes?" the young collie asked.

"I'm Officer Hoffman, with the Tualatin Police Department. You must be Daniel, right?"

"Yeah. My friends call me Danny though," the pup replied.

"Okay, Danny," the officer said with a smile. "I understand that there was an altercation at your school this afternoon, involving a tiger, badger, dog, and deer. Is that true?"

"Yeah," the border collie pup said, nodding. "Alex got beaten up by a bunch of fifth graders. They called an ambulance and everything."

"Yes. I was also told you have a video of what happened. Do you still have that video?"

"Well... I don't have it myself, really. My friend Kevin posted it on YouTube and sent the link to a bunch of us."

"Really?", the german shepherd asked, pulling out his notepad. "Could you get that link for me?"

"Yeah, sure... lemme go get my phone. I'll be right back." the cub said, turning around and darting back into the house. A few seconds later, Officer Hoffman heard several rapid thumps as the cub went up a staircase somewhere inside the house.

=^.^=

Alex opened hir eyes, looking blearily around the room. Unlike the previous two times, shi didn't feel completely out of it. The mask on hir face was uncomfortable, and hir throat felt as dry as the Sahara desert.

Alex's mom and dad were sitting on chairs to one side, leaning against each other. After a few seconds Raenne noticed that shi was looking at them, and quickly stood up and walked over, David following close behind.

"Hey, kiddo. How you feeling?", she asked, walking over to the bed and resting her paw atop Alex's head.

Shi hadn't really thought about it, but now that mom mentioned it, most of hir body seemed to hurt. Especially hir chest. That triggered a memory. Shi vaguely remembered being taken to some kind of x-ray room before the surgery, and then mom and the doctor talking, something about broken ribs and lungs...but after that, nothing.

"Hurts," shi replied. Or tried to. Instead, it game out as a harsh wheeze that caused spikes of pain to radiate through hir chest. Shi tried to swallow, only to wind up coughing, which left hir in agony.

The monitor next to hir started beeping, and a few seconds later a fruit bat wearing green scrubs opened the door and looked in, then stepped over to the side of the bed.

"Well, looks like our patient's finally awakened. I bet you need some water. Do you want some water?"

Alex nodded hir head, tears forming in the corners of hir eyes. The nurse stepped over to the other side of the bed and adroitly pulled the oxygen mask off Alex's face. "Judging from your O2 readings, you don't need this any longer. It hasn't been giving you much extra oxygen for the past hour anyway."

After setting down the mask, she picked up a small bottle with an angled nozzle and held it up to Alex's muzzle, then squirted a bit into Alex's mouth. "Nod when you want more."

After about five or so doses, Alex finally felt like shi could speak again. "Thank you," shi said quietly. It felt like everything ached or hurt, but it was distant. Almost like hir body belonged to someone else, but shi could still feel it. Hir head was spinning too. It was a very strange feeling.

"Need anything else?" the nurse asked.

Alex shook hir head slightly.

"Okay. If you do need something, press the little button here on the side of the bed," the fruit bat said, pointing at the tiny red button on the guard-rail of the bed.

Alex nodded, and the nurse left, smiling and nodding at the two adult tigers standing on the other side of the bed.

"Hi mom, dad," shi whispered.

"You gave us one hell of a scare, kiddo," the older tigress said, a relieved smile on her face. "I really hope they managed to fix that lung of yours."

"Sorry," shi said, looking down. "I should have stayed near the teachers."

"No, love. The teachers should have been watching after you," hir dad said. Shi did feel hir dad grip hir paw, squeezing gently. Shi looked back up at them, and hir father continued, "The teachers are supposed to monitor what's going on with their students, and they especially should have been looking after you since you had a broken leg and had been attacked last week. It's not your fault at all."

Half of what he said went right over hir head. It was hard to understand. But one thing did stand out: It wasn't hir fault. Somehow it felt like it should have been, only shi couldn't figure out why. The three kids who'd kicked hir earlier had been wrong. Maybe it really wasn't hir fault. Right now shi couldn't think though; shi'd have to ponder it later.

"There's a police officer who wanted to ask you what happened. Do you think you'd be okay talking with him, or are you too tired?", Raenne asked.

"Uhh... I guess I could talk..." Alex replied slowly. "I'm not tired... just hurts. Hungry too."

"I know, love," the white tiger said. "I'll go ask the nurse about getting you some pain meds, and some food."

After giving his daughter a kiss, David stepped out of the room.

"Well, if you don't mind talking a bit more, I'll give Officer Hoffman a call and see if he wants to drop by now or talk to you tomorrow," she said with a smile. "I love you," she added, tussling the fur atop Alex's head before sitting back down and pulling out her phone.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Alex set down the panini sandwich that hir dad had brought in and looked up while hir mom opened the door. Beyond it stood a german shepherd in an officer's uniform.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Andreyev... and Alexandrea," he said, nodding in hir direction. "Good to see you're awake this time. I'm Officer Hoffman with the Tualatin Police Department," he added, walking into the room and stepping over to the side of hir bed with his hand out.

Alex reached out and gave his paw a squeeze, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in hir chest and the shooting spikes of pain that moving hir arm caused. Hopefully the pain meds that the nurse had given hir would kick in soon, shi thought to hirself.

"So, do you remember what happened to you at school today?", he asked, pulling out his notepad and a pen.

Alex nodded, "Yeah."

"Could you tell me what you did, and what happened during lunch and recess?", he asked.

For the next couple of minutes, Alex recounted what had happened during lunch and recess, up until shi'd been loaded onto the ambulance. Several times, the officer or hir mom asked for clarification or greater detail regarding what had happened and what was said. Alex couldn't remember a lot of what was said, unfortunately, as a lot of it had become a blur, especially once shi'd been pushed.

"You're absolutely certain that you didn't know any of the three children who attacked you? Do you think you could pick them out again if you saw them?", the canine officer asked, after he'd finished writing everything down.

Alex shook hir head. "No. I mean, I remember they were a badger, a dog with light brown fur, and a deer with fangs, but that's about it. I know they said their names at some point, but I don't remember what their names were at all."

"That's okay. Thank you for answering all my questions so far," he said, putting his notepad away. "I hope you recover quickly, Alex. You seem like a good kid."

"Thanks," Alex said quietly, looking down. Shi wasn't particularly comfortable with being praised like that.

"Officer Hoffman, did you happen to find that video I mentioned?", David asked, leaning forward slightly on his seat.

"Actually, I did. A copy of it was uploaded to YouTube. I've already downloaded that one for reference, and I'm going to see if I can track down the cub who took the original video and interview him and get the original video as well," the canine replied.

"Could you get us a copy of that video?", Raenne asked.

"Unfortunately, I can't as the copy I have is evidence. However, I'm sure if you search YouTube you'll have no problems finding it. The title included the word Byrom, and it was uploaded earlier today. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Both the parents shook their heads, and after a moment the officer left, bidding them all a good evening.

"Well, I guess that's that," David said, pulling a laptop out of the backpack he'd brought to the hospital. "Want to watch a movie?"

=^.^=

Alex was getting sleepy by the time the movie ended. The pain meds had finally kicked in and shi was starting to get sleepy once again. It being pretty close to hir regular bedtime anyway.

"That was good," shi said, trying to fight back another painful yawn. "I really liked the cars in that. Especially Eleanor. And that quiet guy Sphinx was awesome."

"Yeah, I really like that one myself," David said. "Even if I'm not as interested in cars as you are, kiddo. Want to watch something else, or are you starting to feel tired?"

"Starting to get tired," Alex said quietly.

"Well, I'm going to head home," Raenne said. "I'll be back early in the morning to check on you and bring you a new set of clothes in case they decide to let you out tomorrow. If you wake up and your dad and I aren't here, your phone's right there," she added, setting Alex's phone on a shelf next to the bed.

"I'll stay and keep an eye on hir, at least until midnight," David said, talking to his wife. "Though I should probably get at least a little bit of sleep since Terrence said he'd be having some lawyers call me tomorrow."

Alex didn't know what that was all about, but it sounded serious.

"Why don't you tell them to talk to me instead?", the older tigress asked. "I can handle that sort of stuff, and you've got that software release coming up."

"Good idea. I'll do that. Drive safe, love. I'll be home in a few hours," the white tiger replied.

"Okay. Goodnight, hun," Raenne said, giving David a kiss. Then she bent over and gave Alex a kiss as well. "Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight, mom."